Laurent Nkunda

Laurent Nkunda (2 February 1967-) was a General of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the leader of a militia of Tutsis during the Second Congo War.

Biography
Laurent Nkunda was born on 2 February 1967 in Mutanda, Rutshuru, Congo-Leopoldville. He studied at Kisangani University before becoming a schoolteacher, and he was influenced by world leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and George W. Bush. Nkunda was an ordained Protestant preacher, and he fought alongside the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in the Rwandan Civil War and First Congo War before leading his own militia during the Second Congo War as a warlord. He converted most of his rebels to Pentecostal Christianity, and he later became the leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) militia in Nord-Kivu during the struggle with the Congolese government. In 2005, he had 2,500 child soldiers in his 8,000-strong army, and in 2009 he was arrested after fleeing to Rwanda following the failed Nord-Kivu conflict of 2008-2009. Nkunda was held in extrajudicial detention by the government, never being charged with a crime.